Your biggest barrier to strength based practice.

It's you.

Let me be clear. Social Work is supposed to be strength based. This way of practicing often seems impossible, because of system wide pressure and oppression. There are risk adverse structures in place that block your strength based view.

But as with everything in social work, I would like you to stop, pause, and start with you.

As a person, as a practitioner, how strength based are you?

And by that I mean, can you identify your own strengths?

Are you good at talking about your skills and knowledge?

Can you confidently share your achievements?

Can you identify your own positive qualities?

If you answered yes to all these questions then you don't need to read any further.

If you answered no, then now you are aware of what you need to work on.

As a new social worker, it's so easy to put yourself down. You end up constantly reminding yourself of all the things you don't know and end up in a vicious cycle of self criticism.

There is such a strong connection between how we treat others and how we treat ourselves.

Can you truly talk to a child or young person about their self belief if yours doesn't exist?

Make it a habit to do a personal strength based assessment. Remind yourself of all the things you do well at work. If you are struggling then team up with a colleague to swap compliments. It might sound cheesy but the alternative is doing nothing and continuing to put yourself down. You won't lose anything by giving this a try.

I'd love to know how this feels for you so let me know.

And remember, you are doing an amazing job.

Vicki

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